Posted by
GLASSER on Thursday, November 15, 2007 2:21:14 PM
Why is there no discernable competition in the price of oil between
companies? I know about the market value and all that, though I do not
see the point in the market to begin with, except, maybe to cover the
lack of competition between oil companies. However, the oil companies
are the ones pumping most of the oil out of the ground. Then they sell
it to the market, which bids , I guess, for their oil. Who, exactly
are these people , they call the market? I would bet a paid day off,
many bidders are stockholders of oil companies. Then these bidders sell
the oil, at a hefty profit, back to the oil companies, who refine it
and pump gasoline into a common pipeline, (anyone see a disturbing
chance at collusion anywhere in here), and buy it out of shipping
points, further down the line. They take this common gasoline , put a
'company' additive in it and call it their own gasoline. Then they sell
it for, basically, the same price as the station across the street.
The location, rather than competition, causes the slight price
difference between gas stations. The price wars of the early s are
long gone, as real competition between oil companies, except, maybe in
finding new reserves, is null and void.
I wonder if some of the resistance to new refineries come from the
owners of the refineries already running? They can sell the gasoline
they make for more , if there are no new refineries to add to the
supply of gasoline already being produced. Too, as there is only so
much oil to be had, would the current biggest producers benefit from
resistance to allowing new oilfields being opened to anyone who wanted
to drill for oil, like Alaska, offshore Ca., and Fla.? Then, that leads to my ranting about the 3.1 billion verdict against Ex/Mob , in the opening round of a stack of lawsuits against them for cheating clients out of billions in royalties, less than a month before we , arguably hurried up and invaded Iraq, possibly so oil prices would go into deepspace. http://www.endgame.org/exxon.html
I'll bet Ted Roosevelt is
on a serious haunt somewhere. Myself, I have to go throw up.